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Chapel Choir - Area Congregations Together - Kitchen Cupboard - Youth Outreach & Services - Family Counseling Ministry - Faith in Books - Special Mission Sundays
CHAPEL CHOIR
We are looking for new singers to join the Choir. We practice at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings before the 10:00 a.m. service. No experience needed, just a desire to sing SATB with organ accompaniament for a small friendly church. Special welcome breakfast at 8:00 am on Sunday September 7. 
Working with as many as 9 SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass) voices, the Chapel choir sings at the 10 AM Sunday services from September through June. Musical selections include a range of classic to contemporary pieces with an emphasis on tight harmonies. The choir is always open to new members. It practices at 9 AM on Sunday mornings, just before the service.
Organist and choir director, Merilee Nord, teaches sight singing and music theory at Ithaca College, and piano lessons for youth and adults in her own studio
AREA CONGREGATIONS TOGETHER - ACT
Through the multi-faith auspices of Area Congregations Together, the Chapel participates in the food drives and distribution of Crop Walk and Kitchen Cupboard.
ACT is a multi-faith association committed to local and global communitiy service and to mutual understanding and respect. Its leadership is drawn from religious groups throughout Tompkins County and represents a wide variety of perspectives. Through its activities, ACT seeks to foster cooperative efforts for the common good and to promote tolerance, sensitivity, and respect for differences.
ACT works through a dynamic interaction among congregations, liaisons, and board members. Participating congregations appoint liaisons to attend monthly meetings.
For additional information contact:
lament@clarityconnect.com or tunafiki@clarityconnect.com
KITCHEN CUPBOARD
A
major focus of Forest Home Chapel’s outreach is Ithaca Kitchen Cupboard, a food
pantry in downtown Ithaca. The Kitchen Cupboard, an ongoing project of Area
Congregations Together since 1969, serves as an emergency and supplementary food
pantry for people in the City and Town of Ithaca. The Cupboard (open daily from
1:30 to 3:00 PM at the Salvation Army building) provides eligible households
with three days’ worth of balanced meals (mostly non-perishable items) which can
be prepared or cooked by people in their own homes. Forest Home Chapel
supports the Kitchen Cupboard in numerous ways. We staff the Cupboard on the
second Tuesday of each month, sending 2 or 3 Chapel people to distribute orders
to the families who come to the Cupboard window. And we collect food for the
Cupboard every month on the Sunday before our Tuesday staffing days. During the
months of March and April we emphasize monetary collections for the Cupboard, to
increase the pantry’s return from the annual Feinstein Million Dollar Challenge.
For more information or to volunteer to help, please send us an email.
FEINSTEIN CHALLENGE
Every year during the months of March and April, the Ithaca Kitchen Cupboard participates in the nation-wide Feinstein Million Dollar Challenge. Any food or monetary donations received at the Cupboard during these two months will count to increase the Cupboard's portion of the Feinstein grant.
FAITH IN BOOKS
Faith in Books Is a program of Area Congregations Together and the Family Reading Partnership. During one weekend a year local congregations collect gently used childrens books and donate them to the Family Reading Partnership for their Bright Red Bookshelf program.
Forest Home Chapel collects gently used children's books throughout the year in a bright red crate located in our front hall. Thanks to Chapel Member, Gladys White, the Chapel has a reputation for collecting large numbers of books. Last year Gladys donated over 900 books for this program.
The Family Reading Partnership gives books to low income families through the bright red bookshelf program.
Forest Home Chapel also participates in Faith in Books weekend which takes place February 29 to March 2 in 2008. This year, Rev Kelsey plans a very special service with appropriate readings.
FAMILY COUNSELING MINISTRY
An Ecumenical Ministry of the Susquehanna Assn.
NY Conference, United Church of Christ
Providing professional, spiritually sensitive counseling and therapy to individuals, couples, families and groups since 1975.
Who Comes for Counseling?
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Persons who are anxious or fearful or who feel their lives are unsuccessful or unhappy
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Persons having difficulties in work or personal relationships
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Troubled or alienated marriage partners
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Parents experiencing problems with their children Adolescents having difficulty with family or social life
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Couples preparing for marriage or a committed relationship
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Older Adults confronting life changes
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Persons dealing with grief, trauma or other crises.
Who May Seek Assistance?
The ministry has over 90 member churches and religious groups from 11
denominations, both Protestant and Roman Catholic. Those associated with member
congregations or religious groups are given priority to Family Counseling
Ministry services either via clergy / leader referrals or through direct contact
by the persons in need. As schedules permit, counselors may choose to see
persons not connected to any member congregation or religious group.
Fees are based on family income and family size. Clients are seen from the office at Forest Home Chapel by:
PAUL PITKIN, D. Min. is a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and holds a Doctorate in Family Ministry from Colgate Rochester Divinity School. He is an ordained United Methodist Minister who also serves as Senior Clinician for the FCM staff. You may call him at (607)533-7349 or (607)758-3339. From January 7, 2008 his hours at the Chapel are occasional Mondays 3:00 – 6:00 pm and Tuesdays 9:00 am – 6:00 pm. NYS Lic. #MHC002295
Paul Pitkin is trained in EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
YOUTH OUTREACH AND SERVICE
The Chapel is proud of its teens who have ‘graduated’ to service in the wider world. Two – Gabe Bleakeley and Sarah Hathaway – spent time with AmeriCorps, whose mission is to strengthen communities and develop leaders through direct, team-based national and community service. In partnership with nonprofit organizations, state and local agencies, and faith-based and other community organizations, members complete service projects throughout the region they are assigned.
Drawn
from the successful models of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s and
the U.S. military, AmeriCorps is built on the belief that civic responsibility
is an inherent duty of all citizens and that national service programs work
effectively with local communities to address pressing needs.
Both Gabe and Sarah served in Louisiana, amongst other sites, clearing the devastating wreckage left by hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Sarah lead groups of short-term volunteers in New Orleans before going on to build houses for Habitat for Humanity, and then to reforestation in such areas as Chimney Tops (see photo) in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
SPECIAL MISSION SUNDAYS
Every time a month contains five Sundays (about four times a year), Forest Home Chapel celebrates a Fifth Sunday for Mission. All of that Sunday's loose plate offering is donated to a chosen mission. Past recipients of our Fifth Sunday Offerings include a local refuge resettlement program, wordwide disaster relief through the United Methodist Committee on Relief, Greater Ithaca Activities Center's summer camping program, and Casowasco Conference and Retreat Center's Capital Campaign. During 2008 Fifth Sundays for Mission fall on March 30, June 29, August 31 and November 30.